Posts Tagged “exercise”

Last Friday I gave a talk about “Listening to music”. It all started
after a conversation in which I was trying (and failing) to explain
what the “progressive” label meant in “progressive rock” and
“progressive metal”. I figured the only way was to show the same piece
of music with simpler and more complex arrangements. This is the blog
post version of that talk.

The idea of the talk was twofold: first, give a better idea of the
possible differences between a straightforward rock song and a more
complex rock song. Second, to show examples of musical decisions that
make a song sound different, so it’s easier to spot why we like the
music we like. It was never my intention to suggest that more complex
music is better (everything has its uses), just to see that songs
sound like they do because of a number of decisions made when writing
and recording it.

Through the talk, we take the chorus of a song and rewrite it to be a
simple as possible, and then we make changes until we’re back to the
original.

Original version

This is the original version of the song (just the chorus,
really). It’s not quite progressive rock, but it certainly has similar
elements:

Now, we are going to rewrite it to sound as straightforward as
possible.

Straightforward version

This is a completely rearranged version of the same chorus, in the
most straightforward way that still sounded like a song someone could
write:

Compared to the original, this should sound much more familiar, safe,
and stable. Many things have been changed to reach this version. In
the following sections we’ll undo those changes one by one and we will
end up with the original version.

First change: chords

The straightforward version uses “power chords”, which are simplified
chords used often in rock, punk, and metal. I prefer full chords, so
the first change is just that:

The difference can be quite subtle, especially with this computer
version. You can compare just the guitar in one and the other here:

OLD

NEW

Second change: bass line

If you pay attention to the song as is stands now, the bass is simply
repeating the root note of each chord being played. The result is that
the bass “supports” the guitar, making the sound of the chords fuller,
but not much more. Instead, let’s make a more playful bass line, using
some of the available notes in the chord (instead of always the root):

The only difference is the bass. Compare the old bass line to the new
one:

OLD

NEW

🛈 Examples of bass line that don’t follow the guitar (in this case,
not even rhythmically!):
Drapery Falls by Opeth
and Dry the Rain
by The Beta Band (from 4:08).

Third change: rhythm

The next step is to change the rhythm. The common rhythm most pop and
rock is built upon is 4/4, but I’m fond of 6/8 (a rhythm that sounds
somewhat like waltz, and it’s often used in ballads). This difference
is somewhat big because all instruments have to adapt:

Fourth change: strumming

The first version in 6/8 has a very simple groove: it simply marks the
chords being played and little else. Hence, we’ll change the guitar to
have a nicer groove. The bass rhythm will be a variation on that, but
while at it we’ll also changes the notes. Thus, both guitar and bass
change:

OLD

NEW

OLD

NEW

Fifth change: drums and small details

In the previous version, the drums play a very straightforward 6/8
groove. I wanted something different for this song because I was going
for an unstable, dark sound. So the drums had to change. This is,
finally, the original version (same as at the top of this post):

OLD

NEW

🛈 Example of song with drums going against a 6/8 groove:
Judith by A Perfect
Circle, from 3:12 to 3:16 approx.

Apart from the drums themselves, the guitar also changes slightly in
the second half of each line (between 6 and 8 seconds in). Compare the
two:

OLD

NEW

🛈 Example of song with a sort of call-response between voice and
guitar: Jeremy
by Pearl Jam, at around 1:19.

Conclusion

As it’s hopefully clear by these examples, somewhat small changes can
make a big difference in the feel of a song. When we stack several of
those changes we can make a song sound very, very different.

And remember, complexity is not necessarily good! In this song I
needed that unstable sound, but don’t get blinded by the fascination
of complexity.